The Philadelphia 76ers were undone by a zone defense on Wednesday night as they fell to the Miami Heat 108-104 for their first home loss on the season. The Sixers were not able to figure out a way to bust the zone as they weren’t able to knock down any open three-pointers and they also did not feed their superstar big man.
Joel Embiid had 22 points, with 12 points coming in the fourth, and 19 rebounds, but his efforts weren’t enough to beat the zone. There were a few possessions where his teammates were not able to find him in the middle of the zone or in the low post and it was a bit frustrating for him when the team, allegedly, knew the zone was coming.
“In the first half, I don’t even remember myself being in any action or getting the ball,” said Embiid. “It was in the scouting report. We knew they were going to do it, we were prepared for it, but I guess we didn’t act on it. We didn’t do what we talked about.”
The first half was a struggle for Philadelphia as they were outscored 37-19 in the second quarter and they found themselves down 56-48 at the half. The zone defense messed up their offensive flow after a first-quarter where they scored 29 points and were able to get into a rhythm. As soon as Miami went into the zone, it threw the Sixers off.
“Our league isn’t much of a zone league and the 49 possessions that we have played zone this year, they say that we are the fifth-best offense, but it didn’t feel like it tonight,” said coach Brett Brown. “I think that it crept into our spirit and our mood and ‘yes’ is the short answer to the fact that I think it slowed us down. We weren’t proactive.”
Philadelphia was able to stage a comeback thanks to them finding a bit of a groove and figuring out a way to get the big man involved. Their offense late in the game forced the Heat to move out of the zone and get back to the man-to-man defense.
“Move the ball, make shots,” Embiid added. “I feel like in the fourth quarter, I was a little bit aggressive and my teammates found me. In the first half, it wasn’t the case, so we have to do a better job at being locked in from the beginning.”
This is the type of game that can give them a blueprint to be able to grow and learn from as a team. They have to be able to feed the ball to Embiid in the middle of the zone and be able to keep him involved.
The Sixers will move on and look to bounce back on Friday when they host the Luka Doncic-less Dallas Mavericks. [lawrence-related id=21647,21637,21626]